:drink:
Printable View
I went without a street bike for 5 or 6 years, racing took the fun out of it for me. I rode a good bit of dirt to scratch the itch. Started feeling the desire a couple of years ago and picked up the old Multistrada last spring. The 2 valve air cooled Ducati is such a sweet motor. I wanted to ride something that had commuting/traveling ability but still carve nicely. I wanted something to rustle the jimmies (pun intended.) A year in and I still love the bike and I’m enjoying street riding again. I think you did the right thing selling the gixxer if it wasn’t doing it for you anymore. Take some time off and enjoy other stuff, I’m sure you’ll find your way back to it at some point.
I am slowly getting out of street riding. I used to love it but it's just so dangerous out there and most of my riding buddies are done riding. I have put like 100 miles in my Ducati Sport classic in the last two years. I will keep it because it's beautiful and somewhat collectable now
I ride my street VFR at least once a week if the weather is nice. I have several track toys but only ride track once, maybe twice a year. I rode the VFR to NYST to watch some friends ride the track and stay overnight with them. I have to say the ride there and back on great roads 75% of the time brought me as much joy as a 2 day track weekend, for about $500 less. The VFR is a 2001 with only 13k miles on it. Its blistering 100HP is more than enough and the thing handles as well as anything I have ever ridden. My Ducati 749R needs to be ridden at 10/10 to get it to really work. The VFR barely cares what gear it's in. The 5th Gen VFR is something else. Fuel injection and that sublime Honda V4 with gear driven cams. Best of both worlds. I'm busy doing some work on the new RC51, which is registered and plated. Once I'm done getting her ready I'll put maybe 1000 miles tops on that this year. Having gone through trackdays, then racing, then trackdays, I have to say the appeal is not there for me any more. I like to hang at the track and ride the low half of intermediate. I have no desire to ride the track like I'm capable of any more. I won't recover from a crash as well as I used to and I don't have anything to prove to myself any more. I rode Anglesey and Cadwell in UK a couple of years ago and I plan on doing another UK moto tour next year and riding Donington again and I have an itch to ride Brands Hatch, but I wouldn't go just to track ride. The week of riding England and Wales was as much fun as the two track days we fitted in, if not more fun.
Even with kids I commute every day on my ADV bike, and get out occasionally for a day ride. Hell in a few weeks I'll be going on a 3 day motocamping ride.
Not sure why there is so much resistance to riding ADV's or dual sports on this forum. It's like half of you don't realize that there are bikes out there that can go off pavement and don't have to be scraping knee to be fun (even though you still can). Moreover the further out you go the less cars there are to mess up your day. Maybe lack of access being in more urban areas?
Attachment 57328Yes. We went to Anglesey Circuit (called Trac Mon in welsh). It's an island off ther coast of Wales. It's pretty much as close as you can (geographically) get to the IOM without being on the island. The track is kind of like a mini Phillip Island with spectacular views of the Irish sea as you ride around.
We toured North Wales also that week and it was amazing.
Attachment 57327
https://youtu.be/jo-kgeWznfk
http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...AASUVORK5CYII=
I would love to tour there...
Isle of Man is on the bucket list with my boys.
+1...i hope to get back once my kid gets older and i have more time...by then i'll be looking at an electric motorcycle i suppose...my commute was never fun on a bike anyway (98% highway)...would be worse now with all the texters...so for now i will stick with my scooter for around town 2 wheel fix
Scooters are more fun for around town riding than most people would think.
Just reading this and on the TV news they are covering a moped rider in Lowell who is in critical condition after riding into the back of a school bus. Inconspicuous little things, school buses. The camerman was sure to focus in on the flip-flop lying in the roadway.
The trouble with mopeds is that you can hop on and go with no training and no experience. Being a licensed car driver in MA (and all of the US unfortunately) says not much at all.
It looks like fat chicks are safer to ride than mopeds
Enjoy! It's a lot of fun. PA/NY/CT/MA is my favorite part of it because it just feels different than the northern parts. VT is more technical and challenging, but it's my old stomping grounds so it feels a bit played out.
I'll be doing the Bite Sized BDR to MABDR loop in a few weeks. Will be nice to get out again one last time before kiddo #2 is born.
WAY back when, track days (with a few races tossed in) basically ruined street for me at that point in time. I lost the desire to ride on the street even though I sold my track bike and kept the street bike. It was a blast when I rode it, but I didn't have the strong desire to any longer at that point. After I sold my street bike, deep down inside I still wanted to ride street but needed something to respark the fire.
Queue the kids being old enough to ride their own wheelers. It was amazing how much riding with them filled the void of riding SOMETHING. Those were some of the absolute best times. Load up the family & machines, head out for the day - sometimes weekends. We'd hit the local trails, our property, campgrounds with trail access, house rentals with trail access, you name it. It really fulfilled that aspect of my former life more than I could have imagined. As the kids got older, their desire to ride with me/us dwindled. Kelsey has kids of her own, Tovah went to college and the Army, Canaan is more wrapped up riding with his friends and tooling on machines & cars and fishing.
As that part of my life slowly disappeared, I found myself desperately wanting a street bike again. The biggest problem for me then was physical limitations. My heart screamed RSV4 while my body was all about a Segway. It took years and many trials to get into something I could spend a day on and be happy about it from just about all angles.
A different riding style on an entirely different animal was without a doubt exactly what I needed to get my heart on the street again. I constantly want to ride now. I think of ways now to incorporate my bike into just about any travel plans: commuting, runs to the store, trips around town, day-long rides, weekend trips, dinners out, etc. In all honesty, I don't think I'll ever see myself on a sport bike on the street again. And that's not just due to physical limitations.
I really hope Syl and I can join you on one of those tours one day...
I still chuckle when I think about how miffed Ken Condon was when I told him I dragged my pucks on his Tiger (with 50/50 tires on it) before he could. :lmao: But at least it gave him the confidence in them to do it himself :)